Tara Oilfield Services has done its part to help wildfire evacuees in the Fort McMurray area.
Tara Oilfield Services has done its part to help wildfire evacuees in the Fort McMurray area.
The Didsbury-based company filled up two 20-foot seacans with food and other supplies Thursday in Olds and Didsbury, then trucked them up to the Fort McMurray area to distribute them to those who need them.
"We understand what's happening up in Fort McMurray and we want to help out," owner Martin Sheridan said.
About 15 staff members were involved, including Sheridan.
They bought more than $4,000 worth of groceries at AG Foods in Didsbury, then drove up to Olds where they loaded up on more groceries, etc., at Peter's No Frills.
Sheridan said he got the idea for the project when a man came into the company yard Thursday morning asking to have a slip tank put into his truck.
"I said, 'what are you doing?' He said, 'well, just taking a bunch of fuel up to Fort McMurray.' So I said, 'well, you know what? I'll give you a slip tank and you go up there. I'll fill it for you and you take it with you.'
"So we're walking to the back of the yard and I just decided to throw in a couple of seacans and fill them full of food and drive them up there myself," Sheridan told the Albertan.
Each seacan is filled with everything from food and water for people and pets to diapers.
"We've kind of got everything that we could think of," Sheridan said.
Although staff concentrated on buying non-perishable food, they also stocked up on several tubs of meat – primarily sandwich meat and sausage.
"It's actually a lot harder than you think when you think you're going to send a bunch of food and stuff up," Sheridan said. "As soon as you get to the grocery store you're not sure what you're going to grab, so we're trying to get everything."
Sheridan says AG Foods donated $100 toward the cause and then gave the company a 10 per cent discount on everything they bought.
In Olds, No Frills gave them a deal on pallets of $1 bottles plus a discount on the other items they bought.
Olds No Frills manager Peter Skokan noted that on Wednesday, his parent company, Loblaws, donated $300,000 in support for relief efforts in Fort McMurray, including cash donations plus food and health supplies.
Also, in less than 24 hours, customers in Loblaws stores across the country donated more than $120,000 to the Red Cross to help Fort McMurray and area fire victims.
In the Olds No Frills store, signs were also put up at the tills offering customers a chance to donate to the Red Cross to help Fort McMurray-area fire victims as well.
Skokan said he plans to do more once "things settle down."
"This is devastating," he said, referring to the destruction there.
Sheridan was amazed and impressed with the generosity not only of the businesses but also strangers who saw what the company was doing and decided to help out.
"One lady took $350 out of her wallet and handed it to them. Another lady stopped, she gave a $100 cheque and I believe there were some other donations in the store as well," he said.
Sheridan said it's a simple gesture of support.
"Up there it's predominantly oilfield and everybody likes to sniff their nose up at oilfield, but you've got to support each other, right? This is Alberta," he said.
"You can't sit back and rely on your government to do it because they're not going to, so I think you're going to see a lot of support from a lot of Albertans to help Canadians, not just Albertans, and I think it's very important."
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"Up there it's predominantly oilfield and everybody likes to sniff their nose up at oilfield, but you've got to support each other, right? This is Alberta."MARTIN SHERIDAN OWNERTARA OILFIELD SERVICES
